"no hand shock"

[DanielB89]

I am wondering if there are really bows out there that have "no hand shock at all"?  

I have shot several nice bows( stalkers, widows, thunder child, d-bows, bob lee's, big foot, etc) and I have never shot a bow that i would say no "no hand shock".  

I would say that some of them felt almost completely dead in my hand, but i could still feel a little shock.  

So do i not know what hand shock is?  


This post is in no way to degrade anyone's bows i mentioned.  This is just me wanting others opinions.

I have noticed that the bows that typically have less hand shock are the ones with the larger risers(BW and 3 piece longbows)

[Zradix]

I'm sure you know what it is.
There will always be some vibration..physics makes it so.
...but YOU might not be able to feel it.

[LBR]

I am wondering if there are really bows out there that have "no hand shock at all"?  

No.

Zradix nailed it.  Some bows have less, the right string can reduce it, heavy risers help mask it.

[Pivo]

If I grip my bow very loosely I can feel more bow movement than if I hold it tightly after the shot. Maybe people that feel zero hand shock grip there bows like someone's fixing to steal it

[LostNation_Larry]

I prefer to say "virtually no hand shock."  Unfortunately there is no good way to measure hand shock so it depends on the individuals threshold.

[JRY309]

I think to that some will feel handshock more then others.The only time I noticed handshock was with a dacron string on a Hill.Went away as soon as I made up a low stretch string for it.

Handshock can come in different frequencies and it can be amplified if the joints are locked and the bow has a death squeeze on it. My Grooves recurve has a definite higher pitched  thing with a small bump, while my 68" Hill style with a Dacron string, has more of a shove. With a modern string the Hill has less of everything that could be called handshock, even less than the Grooves.  I don't worry about the feel of handshock until it causes pain and swelling in my bowhand, just kidding. What I like about modern strings is the durability and the possibility of shooting stiffer arrows.  For myself, I am much more aware of any bows reaction when there are hard corners or pressure points that do not conform to my hand.

[bofish-IL]

I shot a friends longbow once and handed it back to him after only one shot.. I swore someone touched me on the elbow with a tuning fork. I had carpo tunnel surgery on my wrist and elbows the year before and that longbow actually hurt my elbow from the vibration.

[**DONOTDELETE**]

I think there are just certain archers that are vastly more sensitive to any form of vibration in their bow grips than others..... What constitutes  the definition of "hand shock" could be debated by the masses.

Even bows with high preloads that stop the limbs clean and have heavy mass weight solid Phenolic risers, will still have harmonic vibrations due to the string oscillation....

I came up with a harmonic damping system that helps that a bit, but there is still always going to be a little bit of resonance that i wouldn't classify as hand shock personally.

I like Larry's description of "Virtually no hand shock".....

[David Mitchell]

I prefer to differentiate hand shock from normal recoil.  There has to be some push back if the bows limbs are moving forward and propelling an arrow forward.  That push back can be a gentle push or, if the limbs are improperly tillered, a harsh shock.  I have felt that in a Pearson Ol' Ben longbow I had years ago and definitely put it in a different category than normal recoil. No recoil would be virtually impossible given the laws of physics. I believe Kirk is totally correct in saying that some folks are just more sensitive to it than others.

[Bowwild]

The first time I felt the sensation of no hand-shock was a different kind of vertical bow in 1996.  I was shocked at how different that top end bow felt compared to the other top end bow I had been shooting.

While there is certainly a difference in different bows and materials, I have never shot a recurve with hand shock as low as I describe above.

I doubt I ever will and if such a recurve was made, I think parallel limbs on a recurve would be UGLY.

[Orion]

Until a 100% efficient bow is made, all bows will have some hand shock/recoil.  It's the energy left over as the limbs come to rest at the end of the shot.  Most bows are in the 75% to 83% efficiency range, i.e., they transfer that much of the limbs' energy to the arrow. The rest is reflected in limb vibration and forward push on the riser. How much that is felt depends on the litany of factors already mentioned, including the sensitivity of the shooter.

[Roger Norris]

I had a Martin Hill Style longbow years ago...70# @ 28" I think. It felt like a .44 magnum in my hand.

[macbow]

Like Roger my first,shot with a longbow was a Hill Big Five.
Only took once shot.

[M60gunner]

I go with the " some people are more sensitive " than others theory. I have shot only 3 bows that were "dead in the hand" two of which were Addocks. To me dead on the hand means dead in the hand,no recoils, no movement. So I guess I am one of those less sensitive guys. Can I feel shock from my Hill style bow? Yes, but after a few shots I do not notice it. Now I let someone else shoot my bow and he said it raddled his teeth. Go figure.

[Sam McMichael]

I know very little about the physics involved, but I would think that the only way there could be absolutely no hand shock would be for all energy generated to transferred to the arrow.

[njloco]

As said above, I think that there is a difference between recoil and hand shock. I am sensitive to hand shock and cannot shoot a bow that has it. I have shot bows that I perceived as having no hand shock. I have sold bows that I owned that had a recoil level that my bow arm was not comfortable with.

[adamgti]

I'll bight. I have 13 longbows and recurves and one in particular has zero hand shock. It is strange to shoot it and over the last 4 years it has made me so spoiled I'm actually surprised to the point of flinching when I shoot other bows.

Quartermoon longbows makes it. All bamboo.

[Todd Cook]

What's hand shock?  

Handshock is when your fillings fly out of your nose when you shoot with a locked bowarm and are squeezing the rosin out of the grip and you shoot a Walmart carbon arrow out of a 90 longbow with a B50 string.